


Metamorphosis

by wishesonfallenstars



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, angst angst and more angst, cora mills is her own warning, ruby isn't here for people shitting on her favourite mayor, the season 2 au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 22:07:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13750182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishesonfallenstars/pseuds/wishesonfallenstars
Summary: She should walk away. She really,reallyshould just walk away—she said her piece, she can stop feeling so ridiculously guilty now—but Ruby’s never really been good at doing the things that she ought to. Grumbling, because this really isn’t how she wants to spend her Sunday morning, Ruby sits down next to Regina.





	Metamorphosis

**Author's Note:**

> The season 2 au that nobody asked for but I'm writing anyway.

She's out for run when she sees her, the looming presence of the full moon burrowing deep into her veins until she was outside running before the sun had even thought about rising. She’s sat on a bench at the end of the docks, barely visible to anyone else—especially this early in the morning—but even if Ruby couldn’t see her it’s so quiet that she’s pretty sure it’d be near impossible to miss the sound of her heartbeat. She should keep running, she should just ignore her, finish up her jog, and then enjoy her day off.

Ruby is still muttering under her breath when she leans against the metal barrier just in front of where Regina is sat, staring out at the foggy horizon. She sits so still that Ruby isn’t entirely sure Regina has even noticed that she is no longer alone.

“I owe you an apology,” Ruby says, fighting to get the words out because she should not feel like she needs to do anything for this woman. An apology isn’t what she deserves. But it’s all that Ruby has been able to think about since Archie re-appeared and Cora’s meddling had been revealed. She hates that she feels even a little bit guilty, but she does and telling Regina that is the only way she can think of to make the guilt churning away in her stomach settle.

“You were doing pretty well at the whole not being a raging psycho thing before that,” she says, and okay that wasn’t really what she was going for but it’s true, so Ruby figures she could’ve done worse (she probably has at some point). Regina still hasn’t acknowledged that Ruby is even standing there. “I’m sorry that I played a part, _unintentionally_ , in screwing that up for you.”

Regina doesn’t even blink. She just keeps facing forward, and if the slight sea breeze didn’t catch her hair every now and then, she could be mistaken for a statue.

She should walk away. She really, _really_ should just walk away—she said her piece, she can stop feeling so ridiculously guilty now—but Ruby’s never really been good at doing the things that she ought to. Grumbling, because this really isn’t how she wants to spend her Sunday morning, Ruby sits down next to Regina.

She has no fucking clue why she’s sitting down next the Evil Queen. But she is and if the stubborn woman can’t answer her then Ruby doesn’t really know what the hell she’s meant to say beyond _Sorry I told everyone you murdered Archie. Even though I_ did _see what I thought was you and given your history can you really blame me for thinking the worst?_ Somehow she doubts Regina will take that very well. “You could at least…” Ruby starts to try again but she trails off because even if the silence is starting to get to her (starting to itch under her skin the same way it did this morning before her run), she still can’t find the right words to break it.

“You can go now.” Regina is so quiet when she eventually speaks that Ruby is ninety percent sure if she were human she wouldn’t have heard her at all, even with how still the docks are on a Sunday her voice barely rises above the sound of the waves lapping at the shore line.

Regina’s right—Ruby can go, _should_ go, shouldn’t even really care. But she’s never heard Regina sound like that before, and it eats at her worse than her guilt ever really did, so much so that Ruby knows if she walks away she will never forgive herself. So she stays seated, the little voice in the back of her head that’s been asking her what the fuck she thinks she’s doing since she first saw Regina sitting alone in the pre-dawn mist is significantly quieter now.

It’s barely light out, sun just starting to peek out over the water, but when Ruby glances to the side it finally registers that something is wrong.

Regina has barely any makeup on—it sort of looks like she might just have traces from yesterday here and there—and for the life of her, Ruby cannot recall a single moment (cursed or otherwise) where she’s seen her looking anything but her best. Even when she’d just adopted Henry and was learning to juggle being a single mom, a Mayor, and having a newborn with colic she still looked way more put together than Ruby thought any new parent ought to. There’s a slight blue tint to her lips, and beneath the black stains of old mascara her eyes are ringed red with lilac smudges underneath. And apart from speaking once she hasn’t stopped staring at the horizon—Ruby isn’t really sure that she’s aware she’s in public, or that Ruby hasn’t left. _She’s so still._

“Regina, what…” Ruby frowns at her, unsettled at seeing Regina in this state. _How fucking long has she been sat out here?_ She flounders a little, looking around as if someone else would be out this fucking early on most of the town’s day off. When she turns back a shiver works its way through Regina, it’s the most movement Ruby’s seen from her all morning and something about the way her teeth chatter a little, the way she trembles for a beat, has Ruby already thinking ten steps ahead of just getting her somewhere without wind. _What the fuck are you doing, Lucas?_

“Regina,” she tries again, shifting around to sit facing her, though she changes her mind halfway through going to touch Regina’s arm and lets it rest against the back of the ice-cold bench instead. Another short burst of wind rolls over them, sending their hair swirling for a handful of seconds before it settles. “Look, I can’t—a-are you bleeding?”

The rust-copper tang to the air hits her as she starts to try and work out how to convince Regina to go back home before she gets sick.

Regina— _finally_ —blinks, her attention wavering from whatever the hell it was that held it for so damn long as she frowns. Though she doesn’t do much more to show that she’s heard a damn thing Ruby has to said to her. Ruby chews at the inside of her cheek as she throws another glance around the docks—it is all but empty, one lone fishing boat is pulling out to sea on the far side but other than that they’re completely alone—sighs, and settles on what to do. Because Regina may not have answered her but she _is_ bleeding. It’s not fresh, but nor is it healed, and that in itself is sending alarm bells clanging because Regina has her magic back now. She has her magic back but she hasn’t healed herself, and if that isn’t a screaming sign that something is really and truly _wrong_ then Ruby doesn’t know what is.

“C’mon,” Ruby says as she moves her hand from the back of the bench to Regina’s arm. When Regina flinches away from her Ruby raises her hand in surrender before slowly placing it back down on the frosty fabric of her coat. “You’re going to get sick if you stay out here much longer.”

* * *

 

Ruby somehow gets them both back to the small apartment she has above the garage at the back of the Inn without much hassle. There are very few people in town to wonder why Ruby is driving Regina’s Mercedes at the asscrack of dawn, with Regina pretty fucking unresponsive in the passenger seat. Something she is undeniably thankful for after she spends longer than needed at a cross section trying to decide if she should turn left to get to Mifflin  Street, or carry on straight and go to her own place. Regina’s almost complete lack of reaction to anything Ruby has said or done this morning makes the decision for her, and soon she’s pulling into the spot beside her own car. She thanks everything under the sun that the alleyway leading to the garage is very unlikely to be used today, and that this far back the Mercedes is not visible from the street.

Turning off the car Ruby looks over to where Regina is staring at her hands as she clenches them together in her lap.

“Will you come inside?” Ruby asks barely above a whisper. “At least just to clean up whatever the hell kinda wound you have, and to limit the chances of you developing hypothermia?”

Regina blinks slowly and Ruby takes that as a yes. Clambering out of the car she moves over to the passenger side to all but strongarm Regina out of the car and up the stairs leading to her front door. It would probably be a lot trickier if Ruby weren’t a wolf, but even so she noticed that Regina Mills was actually rather small while maneuvering her from the docks to the car. Even in heels Ruby still had a good few inches on her height-wise, and she’s sure the woman should feel heavier than she does.

It takes a bit of awkward shuffling at the top of the stairs to get the door open and both of them inside, but once they’re in Ruby flicks the lights on (tries to not think about the state and size of her studio at the back of her grandmother’s diner compared to the grandeur of Regina’s house) and guides Regina over to her couch. Yanking off her hoodie and throwing it in the direction of the hamper as she steps in the bathroom Ruby starts opening cabinets to find the battered old first aid kit her cursed self had kept here to appease Granny when she moved out of her room next to hers in the Inn at eighteen for ‘privacy’.

When she comes back to the main room Ruby makes sure she makes noise so she doesn’t startle Regina when she sits down on the coffee table opposite the couch. She doesn’t touch her, remembering the way Regina jerked away from her touch at the docks with a rising queasiness.

“We should clean your cut,” she says as she opens the box, rooting around for alcohol wipes and pulls out different bandages—if only to keep her hands busy.

Regina sighs—the first real sign that she’s even a little bit aware of what’s been happening since she told Ruby to go—leans her head back against the couch and closes her eyes. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t know.” And she doesn’t. She has no fucking clue why she cares, why she didn’t just leave Regina alone on the docks after saying sorry, why she brought her _here_ instead of driving her home. But she does care. And Ruby hates that she does.

“At least you’re honest about it,” Regina laughs, a quiet, bitter thing that sounds like it’d be a sob if Ruby was not in the room with her.

“Yep. Honest to a fault,” she jokes. “Where is it?” She asks after a few moments of silence. Now that she seems more coherent and aware of her surroundings Regina also seems to be growing more and more uncomfortable, shifting where she sits, jaw clenching in what Ruby is pretty damn sure is pain. It’s barely noticeable, but Ruby hasn’t been able to tear her eyes away from her since she sat down.

“I am fine,” Regina says, gritting her teeth and clearly trying not to show how uncomfortable she is.

Ruby glares at her—though with Regina still having her eyes shut it lessens the impact. “Sure you are, that’s why you’re sitting on my couch instead of your own, and haven’t healed yourself yet.”

“Miss Lucas—”

“Pretty sure you can call me Ruby when there’s no one else around, _Your Majesty,_ ” Ruby snarks. “I’ve driven your car now—we’re practically married at this point.”  

“ _Ruby,_ ” Regina bites out.

“For crying out loud, Regina, just let me make sure it doesn’t get infected!” She doesn’t mean to raise her voice, but she’s getting frustrated and the fact that she’s becoming more concerned for the well being of the Goddamn Evil Queen is setting her teeth on edge. None of that stops her from noticing the way Regina’s entire body tenses up, eyes snapping open to stare at her, when she shouts though.

Ruby may have had a certain image during the curse but she was never an idiot. Red was even less of one, especially after killing Peter—she’s starting to get a better idea of why Regina has shown no signs of wanting to go back to home any time soon. The more she learns or starts to figure out about Cora Mills the further her hackles rise. Grinding her teeth Ruby stares at her expectantly, refusing to back down.

“For goodness sake, I’ll be able to be heal it soon,” Regina mutters.

“How soon?”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Ruby says. “How soon will you be able to heal it? Whatever _it_ even is.” Regina glares at her, unwilling to answer and attempting to pull the shroud that is half the Queen and half the take-no-shit-Mayor back around her. But Ruby still has the image of her on that bench at the docks, lips turning blue and more vulnerable than she’d ever thought Regina could be.

“Tomorrow… maybe,” Regina sighs.

Ruby shoves down the urge to shake her. “You can still get a fucking infection between now and then, Regina.” Shaking her head she ignores the blatant _why do you care?_ in Regina’s eyes, yanks her fingers through her hair, shoving strands away from her face and asks what she has been dying to know since realising that Regina was injured and had done nothing about it. “Why?”

“Why?” Regina looks confused. “Why what?”

“Why in the hell can’t you heal yourself?” When she rolls her eyes Ruby finds herself feeling a little better, content that Regina is despairing having to explain something to someone, even if it is a perfectly valid question.

“All magic comes with a price,” Regina mocks, she even does that stupid little hand gesture that Gold can’t seem to help doing. “Most magic costs energy. Healing magic is… draining, even more so if magic is the cause too.”

“I find it hard to believe that you have to wait another day— _at least_ —to fix whatever the hell it is that’s wrong.”

“Well, that’s not exactly something you need to worry about, is it?”

Realising that’s as much of an explanation as she’s going to get right now, Ruby moves the first aid kit from her lap to the table next to her and gestures for Regina to take her coat off. “Look you can either show me yourself, _or_ I will risk you using magic on me and make you. Your choice,” she adds, arms folded across her chest and jaw set when Regina opens her mouth to cut in.

Rolling her eyes Regina places her hands down on either side of her to raise up from the couch, no doubt planning to try and storm past Ruby, but the moment she puts her weight onto them she flinches, hissing and scrunching her nose in pain.

“You’re hurt,” Ruby argues. “Just let me help you, I’m hardly going to parade about the town telling everyone that I insisted on performing first aid on the Evil Queen.” Regina looks even less amused when she says that. “People will think I’ve gone mad.”

“Maybe you have,” Regina murmurs. “You are here after all.”

“Well then, it seems like you should probably cash in on my current loss of sanity, doesn’t it?”

When Regina still doesn’t move Ruby narrows her eyes, muttering _fine, have it your way,_ and moving towards her, smothering a grin when Regina leans back, glaring heatedly at her but still moving, stiff and uncertain, to unbutton her peacoat. It takes her a minute to work all the buttons open, her hands more than likely painful from how cold she’d been not all that long ago. She maneuvers her way out of the woolen fabric, folds it neatly over the arm of the couch before turning slightly (slower than she removed her coat) to present the right side of her back to Ruby.

Ruby swallows a gasp at the red and brown marbled stains on the cream silk of her blouse, spanning her entire shoulder blade. The silk rustles and then shifts as Regina slips it down her arm enough to bare a thin black camisole strap cutting a neat line down the middle of the mess that her shoulder has become. Regina’s entire body is tense, coiled and ready to defend itself, even as she trembles a little. Ruby can hear her pulse accelerate a little, can smell the spike in adrenaline— _fear_ she realises, either at turning her back to a predator, or at turning her back to anyone, Ruby can’t tell, but she thinks Regina has very rarely felt safe having her back to anyone.

The bruise is worse than the cut, though that is also pretty damn nasty. It’s not so much deep, but it’s wide, covering a decent chunk of the middle of her shoulder blade. The skin looks like it’s been ripped, a little like road rash the cursed part of her mind thinks, it’s red raw and still leaking blood in most places.

“Um, this is probably gonna sting,” Ruby warns before she’s edging the strap of the camisole out of the way, curling one hand around the front of Regina’s shoulder to brace against and starts to clean the gouges that cover her shoulder blade and spread out towards her spine. Honestly it should probably do a little more than sting just based on the sheer size of the wound, but it’s all Ruby can think to say, repeating what cursed-Ruby’s memories are telling her Granny would say whenever she skinned her knees falling off of her bike, or skateboard, or rollerblades.

There’s an even brighter memory than her own foggy cursed ones, of Regina sitting four-year-old Henry on top of the drier at the back of the Inn, Ruby passing her a first aid kit—feeling pleased when she wasn’t glared at, but thanked—and cleaning up scrapes on his hands, after he tripped over his own feet trying to rush inside. She’d kissed the grazes and wiped away the tears before picking him up, bouncing a little to make him smile, before she glanced at Ruby and stage whispered to her son _how does ice cream and a milkshake with dinner sound?_

She can remember Henry looking shocked but nodding eagerly when his mother said she'd never seen anyone be so brave before, and that surely that meant they could bend the rules just this once. Ruby had jumped in then, telling Henry he could have whatever he wanted, even if it wasn't on the menu— she'd make it herself. The smile Regina had sent her way over the top of Henry’s head made her stomach flip.

Blinking Ruby shakes off the memory, focussing back on where Regina sits, tense and shivering, in front of her and beings to pass the cloth over her shoulder blade. Regina doesn’t so much as blink, and something about that settles at the bottom of Ruby’s stomach, solid and cloying, because she’s used this brand of antiseptic on herself before. And it burns like a mother on small abrasions, let alone the tears renting Regina’s skin.

Moving as quick as she can whilst still being thorough, Ruby chews at the inside of her cheek as she wipes at the edges of the ragged skin, brushes over the top to clear up some of the congealed blood, before bundling up the now red wipes and layering gauze over dressing pads, taping down the edges as tight as she can with only one set of hands.

Clearing her throat Ruby clears up the coffee table, averting her eyes as Regina shrugs back into her blouse. At the sight of the blood stained silk she frowns, picks up the trash and first aid kit before moving to dispose of both in the bathroom, digging out a thankfully-still-in-date bottle of pain meds before walking back into the main room of her studio. Placing the pill bottle—now open—and a bottle of Gatorade down in front of Regina, Ruby moves behind the wooden room divider that separates her ‘bedroom’ from the rest of the apartment to root through her closet so Regina can wear something less covered in gore.

“You know _usually_ people ingest the pills,” Ruby mocks when she walks back around the divider to see Regina unmoved, and both bottles untouched. “Staring at them doesn’t have quite the same potency.”

“I should go,” Regina sighs.

She should. She should go, and Ruby should let her, should be happy to see the back of her—her good deed for the day, week even, done—and should spend the rest of her day off binging Netflix and not thinking about how an Evil Queen comes to look so broken.

“Go where?” she asks instead. “Home?” She throws the thin cotton long sleeved t-shirt at Regina, smirking when she looks disgusted at it.

“You don't want me here any more than I want to be here,” Regina spits.

“Well, you are here,” Ruby says, sitting down on the couch beside her. “And you clearly don't want to be at your house, so how about you stop being so damn prideful, take the meds and put on something a little less bloody?”

Regina doesn’t answer her, but when she lifts herself from the couch and moves towards the bathroom Ruby can’t help but grin, far more smug than she’s had reason to be in recent weeks. There’s a moment where she wonders if her bathroom is in a state for guests, has to shake the thought out of her head because why the hell does she care if her hamper is overflowing a little, and if it’s a little dusty in areas, or if there’s a stain from dyeing over the red streaks Cursed-Ruby had favoured. She’s still berating herself when the bathroom door opens and Regina steps out, tugging at the loose cotton replacing her usual silk.

She hovers by the arm of the couch, cream blouse balled up and ruined in her hand with one arm wrapped around her stomach, like she’s holding herself together. Pretending not to see her internal argument Ruby toes off her sneakers, kicks her feet up onto the coffee table and fumbles with the remote until she comes across _Friends_ reruns. Eventually Regina sits back down, wincing when she leans back against her shoulder before shifting around to find a more comfortable position. She clearly doesn’t manage it very well with how stiff she’s holding herself.

Rolling her eyes Ruby nudges the gatorade closer to her with her calf. “You can relax a little, Madam Mayor—pretty sure you’re safe with me at this point,” she says, still a little disbelieving at that herself. Maybe she’s finally snapped. Everyone has a breaking point, right? Maybe Ruby’s hit hers; refusing to leave her best friend’s mortal enemy alone without knowing she was safe certainly seems to support that theory.

She’s broken out of her pondering when Regina reaches for the bottle of pills, shakes two out into her palm, and swallows them down with a swig of the lemon sports drink, grimacing as she does. There’s a little more shifting around as she gets comfortable before Regina stills, both of them staying silent. And though Ruby refuses to let her eyes drift from her TV yet, she’s paying more attention to the heartbeat and breathing of Regina than whatever is happening in front of her. So when the thud of her heart slows, and her breathing evens out Ruby chances a look to see that Regina has moved to sit sideways with her left side against the back of the couch, legs pulled up and curled beneath her, and she’s fast asleep.

Biting her lip Ruby eases herself up, tiptoeing over to grab the faux fur throw from the end of her bed and drape it over Regina’s lap—her lips no longer have that blue tint to them, but she’s still so pale. Keeping the television on Ruby gathers up some clean clothes and steps into the bathroom, hoping that she can shower quick enough and quiet enough to not wake Regina. The woman clearly needs rest if the bags under her eyes are anything to go by. She has a sparing thought about why it should be _her_ that cares about whether or not the Evil Queen is getting the advised eight hours a night, before yanking a hairbrush through her mane, ignoring the gradually-quieting voice asking her what the fuck she thinks she’s doing, and jumping into the shower.

Regina is still asleep when Ruby emerges no longer sweaty, and in ripped jeans with a sweater, though she’s shifted a little further down the couch, curled into herself more. She can hear the outside world moving around clearer now, the sounds coming from the diner’s kitchen, cars on the street, the sleepy little town waking up while it’s Mayor (ex Mayor? Has anyone even bothered to replace her?) curls up on her sofa, looking like she’s sleeping for the first time in years. Maybe she is.

The sound of her stomach groaning snaps Ruby back from where she’d been leaning against the bathroom doorway staring at Regina. Warmth floods her cheeks and she finds herself immensely glad that Regina cannot see the red flush spreading down her neck as she shuffles into the kitchen and takes out pans for making breakfast as quietly as she can. She only fights herself for a moment before grabbing one of the apples in her fruit bowl and the brown sugar, placing them next to the maple syrup and other pancake ingredients while she works on mixing up a batter.

By the time Ruby has a decent stack of pancakes made, apple slices caramelising in a saucepan, bacon crisping and an egg frying Regina still hasn’t shown any signs of waking up. Though that seems to be a good thing, she muses as she turns the burner off under the apples, covering them to keep some heat, before dishing her breakfast up and sitting at the breakfast bar separating the kitchen from the rest of her studio. She takes her time with eating, loading her plate a second time and scrolling through the apps on her phone to keep herself occupied. Regina’s heartbeat starts racing, her breathing picking up, just as Ruby starts to debate whether or not she should wake her up and get some food in her. She’s on her feet moving to the couch before she’s made a conscious choice to do anything, but Regina is gasping and jolting awake before she makes it past the kitchen table.

Ruby edges back into the kitchen part of her studio, choosing to act like she isn’t staring as Regina runs a shaking hand through her hair. Her eyes are screwed shut and Ruby can hear the way she’s trying to get her breathing back under control. It’s oddly human, and Ruby chews at the inside of her cheeks, acid bubbling in her stomach, because she should not be seeing this. There is no fucking way Regina would want anyone to see her this rattled—Ruby wouldn’t anyone seeing _her_ in this state—so she turns away and starts busying herself with reheating the apples, grabs the rest of the batter and puts the frying pan back on the heat.

Regina’s heart is still thudding away a mile a minute still, but her breathing is less frantic, and as she calms down Ruby feels her own pulse start to settle, she busies herself with making more pancakes ignoring the voice at the back of her head, once again, asking herself what the fuck she’s doing?

“What are you doing?”

Glancing over her shoulder to see Regina now standing by the table, one arm around her waist, mask firmly in place for anyone but those who can hear the still frantic beat of her heart, Ruby shrugs and points to the food she’s plating up. “It’s… breakfast.” She finishes stacking the food on a plate and puts it down on the opposite side of the table to her as she sits back down.

“I can see that,” Regina says. “You… you’ve already eaten.” She nods towards the stove where pan she’d used for her bacon still rests, and her scraped clean plate thrown next to the sink.

“And you haven’t,” Ruby agrees. “So, how about you sit down and eat something so you’re less likely to pass out on me?” She raises an eyebrow at her pointedly before turning back to the stove to finish off the last pancakes, and save the apples from burning. When she hears the tell-tale scraping of one of her rickety chairs being pulled back from the breakfast table she bites down on her grin—Regina’s stomach wasn’t grumbling loud enough for non-lupine hearing—and sets about plating everything up.  

“Here.” She puts the plate down. “It’s not poisoned,” she adds when Regina pokes at it with her fork, rather than eating it.

Regina rolls her eyes, mutters _I know,_ and takes the smallest fucking bite Ruby has ever seen a grown ass adult take. She picks at it, slicing everything up into miniscule sections that no matter how long Ruby stares she barely sees Regina eat. She tries not to think about how it churns around in her head—how thin Regina is, how exhausted she seems. How much it bothers Ruby to see that something is very clearly _wrong,_  and she has no idea how to help, she just knows that wants to.

* * *

 

They don’t see each other for a few days, and Ruby starts to think that maybe that morning was a fluke. That she really did lose control of herself for a handful of hours and hallucinate the whole thing. But the blood stained rag that Regina’s expensive silk blouse became is still sitting at the top of her trash when she goes to chuck the empty milk carton the next morning. So that rules out a fever dream. She shrugs it off, tells herself it was a one time thing, and that she was doing the right thing and now that’s done? She’ll never have to do it again.

But when day four comes to a close and she hasn’t seen hide nor hair of Regina since that awkward goodbye in her doorway after spending most of the day together on her couch, Ruby’s stomach starts to twist with nerves. The tears in her shoulder are vivid in the forefront of her mind, as is the exhausted glaze across her eyes. And she keeps circling back to the fact that Regina’s own mother is the one who did that to her.

By the time Ruby is closing the diner that night it’s pretty much all she has thought about. glaze that never seemed to leave her eyes the whole time Ruby managed to convince her to stay.

It takes her less than an hour after closing the Diner on the fourth night to feel penned in by the walls of her studio. It doesn’t make sense for her to feel like this. For her to feel like she’s clawing at the walls when there is still just over two weeks until the next full moon, when the woman she is worrying about has quite literally hunted her from sunup to sundown before. And yet here she is hoping the Evil Queen is eating three balanced meals a day. There is no way she is stupid enough to make her way over to Mifflin Street to check on Regina, even if Cora wasn’t prowling around Ruby doubts Regina would appreciate it.

Gritting her teeth she grabs her coat and storms out of her front door. She has no idea where she wants to go, she just knows that if she stays inside much longer she might break something. Like a wall. Wrapping a thick scarf around her neck Ruby bypasses her car and strides down the alley towards Main Street, keeps her head down, picks a direction and just starts walking while she wrestles with the near-constant thoughts of Regina-fucking-Mills.

She is still grumbling to herself when she reaches the entrance to the deserted docks, and there is a very small part of her that isn’t surprised in the slightest.

What does surprise her is the sight of Regina sitting on that same weather-worn bench when she reaches that end of the harbour. Ruby falters for a second when she catches sight of her but then something in her stomach finally settles, and she lets out a sigh like she is breathing clearly for the first time since bidding Regina goodbye last week.

A soft inhale and a small shift to the left as Ruby sits down next to her are the only outward signs that she is aware she’s no longer alone. Neither one of them speak this time, and Ruby keeps her eyes forward, watching the thin covering of mist as it creeps its way across the water. Even she can barely hear the odd sounds from those still awake in town, and somehow the idea of breaking the near perfect silence seems wrong, so Ruby settles herself against the sea-damp wood of the bench and lets the lapping of the waves lull her into a sense of security.

How long they sit there Ruby doesn't know, but she feels no need to disturb the peace that’s wrapped itself around them, even as the sky gets darker and mist grows thicker. Eventually though, once the sporadic sounds from the town behind them have all but completely died off, Regina sighs and moves to stand.

“How is your arm?” Ruby asks, her words barely a whisper but Regina pauses as she turns to leave.

“Better… thank you,” she says it without looking back, but Ruby can imagine the soft look she must be wearing—flustered that someone has asked after her wellbeing, and confused at the genuine concern.

Ruby smiles and says “Good, I’m glad,” just as Regina starts to move again, the words hanging between them like a chain before purple hued smoke wraps around them and Regina, carrying her back home to mother.

“I’m glad,” Ruby repeats it to herself as the magic dissipates and finds herself wishing that Cora doesn’t raise a hand, or spell, or a biting word against her daughter again anytime soon. But even as she makes it Ruby knows deep in her gut that that is most likely a lost cause—there is no doubt in her mind that Regina was out here, risking dealing with a member of the public, because she needed respite from her mother’s cruelty.

Sighing, Ruby pushes to her feet, the knots in her insides less tangled than before she sat down, and begins to head home. As she crosses from the docks to the street Ruby makes a deal with herself to stop by that bench every night. Because she is starting to care about Regina Mills, and if sitting with her for an hour or so on the nights she needs to get out of her house to breathe is what it takes to let her know she is not alone, then Ruby thinks having to wear a few extra layers in hardly a price she cannot pay.  

* * *

 

“Why are you doing this?” They’re at the docks again, at the bench Ruby is slowly coming to think of as—unofficially—theirs. “You know that Cora’s using you, I _know_ you do.”

Regina doesn’t move from where she sits overlooking the sea.

“Regina?” Ruby moves to sit down beside her.

“You already know the answer to that.”

“Why?!” When Regina doesn’t answer Ruby growls. “Why are you following her?”

Regina laughs. “Why wouldn’t I? She’s my mother,” she says.

“She’s insane, Regina,” Ruby argues. “She’s fucking psychotic!” Regina rolls her eyes at that, but before she can come back with anything else Ruby adds what she’s been thinking since she first found her sitting at the docks all those weeks ago, “she’s _hurting_ you.”

“She loves me.”

“This isn’t love,” Ruby whispers, her heart aching just a little bit because she’s not sure if Regina believes that. “You know how a mother is supposed to be with her child, and this?” She moves too quick for her to fight back, grips her hand and moves the sleeve of her coat up to show the black and blue bruises decorating Regina’s wrist. “This is _not_ it. You’re a mom, you _know_ this isn’t right.”

She laughs again, a dark, sharp laugh of disbelief before tugging her hand out of Ruby’s soft grap. “I’m not his mother—everyone’s made that perfectly clear,” she says as she moves to stand up, freezing when Ruby fumbles with the back pocket of her jeans and grabs at her hand again before she can walk past her.  

“They’re wrong,” Ruby says as she presses a small brass key into her palm.

Regina doesn’t look at her, but she folds her cold fingers around the key when Ruby lets go of her and she buries her hand, still holding the key to Ruby’s apartment, deep into the pocket of her pea coat. “Tell them that,” she mutters, before she vanishes in curls of violet smoke.

_Tell them that._

It rattles around in her head for days after finding Regina at the docks again, since she dug out her spare, spare-key and pressed into Regina’s hands—a silent promise that she had somewhere warmer and safer from prying, angry eyes to go when she needed to get away from her toxic mother.

* * *

 

_Tell them that._

Regina’s been reminding everyone that _she_ is Henry’s mother, in every way but biologically, since the day Emma drove into town, and Ruby is starting to realise that—regardless of Regina’s past—there was no respect for her parental rights even before the people remembered the old world. And it’s not really something that should have needed to be said, at least not before the curse broke.

Ruby’s always been more aware of how grey the world actually is than the rest of Team Hero—she’s too much of a monster to see it any other way—but it’s becoming increasingly obvious to her that their version of black and white isn’t as straightforward as they seem to think. Under the curse Ruby hadn’t agreed with a lot of what went down between Regina and Emma over Henry, but she’d stayed out of, keen to keep her friendships intact. As long as it wasn’t affecting her directly, curse-Ruby found it relatively easy to ignore. But it is something that is becoming harder and harder to let go the more she notices it, because no matter how Snow and David twist it up in their own brand of righteous logic, none of this _right._

_I’m not his mother._

_Yes,_  she thinks, _you are._

“Red? Are you listening?” Mary Margaret waves a hand jokingly in front of her face. “Where did you go?”

“Ruby.”

“What?”

“My name,” she says cupping her hands around her tepid cup of barely touched tea. “It’s Ruby, not Red.”

“But… the curse…” Mary Margaret trails off, head tilted to one side as she frowns at her from the other side of the kitchen island.

“What, you thought I was named Red from birth?” Ruby grins despite the thoughts still racing around her head. “It’s a nickname, I got it when Granny first gave me my cloak and it… stuck. I was called Ruby back there too,” she explains.

“You’re saying that you had your own name during the curse?”

“Regina did too,” Ruby mutters.

Mary Margaret snorts into her Earl Grey. “Yes, well, it’s _her_ curse, of course she kept her name—”

Ruby shrugs and runs a fingertip around the rim of her mug. “So did David. And Granny’s first name isn’t _actually_ Granny.” She can’t help but laugh under her breath at the look of shock on her friends’ face, can’t help but shake her head because _how has this only just occurred to her?_ “Anyway, you’re still going around being called Mary Margaret, rather than Snow,” she points out, raising an eyebrow at her from over the rim of her mug.

Emma jogs down the stairs before she can answer, a black travel bag in her hand that she dumps by the door.

“I think we’re nearly set,” she says. “Just waiting for Henry to finish packing.”

Ruby frowns at that. “Packing?”

Emma nods, half preoccupied with digging her coat from the closet. “I owe Gold a favour from when Ashley had the baby, and the bastard is cashing in now. He wants to go find his son, who’s on the other side of the town line somewhere.”

“And you’re… taking Henry with you?” Ruby asks. “Across the town line? _Somewhere?_ ”

Mary Margaret and Emma glance at each other before facing her.

“Well… yeah,” Emma says. “I’m hardly going to leave him in town with Regina and Cora running around.” She grins at her like there’s nothing wrong in her reasoning.

“Are you serious?” Ruby can feel the weight of it curling at the base of her stomach, churning in acid, and rolling because looking between the two of them shows that they really do not see the problem with their little plan. “You’re going to take him across the town line, with no _real_ idea if Gold will manage to keep his memories for long, to a location you’re not sure of yet… without letting his mother know?”

“Emma is Henry’s mother, Ruby,” Mary Margaret says it with such fucking softness, like she’s in her classroom explaining an easy math problem to a particularly stupid student, that Ruby’s hackles start to rise.

She bites back a scathing comment, swallows down the rage that is only half because of her wolf side, and looks over to where Henry skips down the stairs and moves to collect his backpack from under them. When he’s preoccupied, she turns to Emma and Mary Margaret, ignoring the confused looks they keep shooting each other, and takes a moment to push the wolf down a little.

“You do remember that none of you have any legal rights to Henry, right?” She asks instead, keeping her voice level but unable to hide the incredulity in her tone. “The smart thing to do would be to consult his mother before leaving town with him.”

“Emma doesn’t need to consult—”

Slamming her mug down Ruby gets up from her stool and stares at her oldest friend and the woman who should, really, be her goddaughter and laughs. “Oh my God.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, Ruby breaths in, counts to five before letting it hiss back through her gritted teeth. “You,” she jabs her finger towards Emma, “terminated your parental rights to that kid _voluntarily_ when he was born. He was adopted legally, which means that Regina is well within her rights to call the goddamn state police and have you arrested for kidnapping if you and him leave town without _at least_ telling her first. And it _would_ stick.”

Emma is glaring back at her now, hands curled into fists at her sides as Mary Margaret hovers behind the kitchen island and Henry peeks around the stairs. “And how exactly do you suggest I do that, Ruby? Pop round for an apple turnover with her and her bitch of a mother?”

“Oh I don’t know, Emma, why don’t you pick up the fucking phone and start there?” Ruby can feel her eyes flash, the wolf side of her just screaming to come out and force them to realise they’re wrong. But she swallows it down and moves towards the door—the more animalistic side of her smirking when Emma backs away from her path to it—shoving her arms into the fur of her jacket. “You gave that boy up,” she reminds her as she reaches for the door handle. “You gave him up and she gave him a home, and for someone who grew up wanting to be adopted you’ve got a pretty shitty attitude about it.”

“She’s evil!” Mary Margaret calls out as Ruby yanks the door open.

And that, she thinks bitterly as she pivots back to stare at them, is part of the problem. “Well she wasn’t for the first ten years of his life, and let’s be honest _Your Highness,_ you and Emma have both been like this since _before_ you knew the curse was real. Which just makes it worse. Because what would you have done if the curse _hadn’t_ been real? How would you justify it then?” Then she slams the door behind her and storms down the stairs and out onto the street.

* * *

 

She’s still angry an hour later, sitting on the edge of the couch, one leg bouncing as she gnaws at the skin around her right index finger. She’s turned the TV on and then off, and then on only to switch it back off again so many times that she’s lost count. And every time she starts to calm down, her mind flicks back over every dismissive comment about Henry’s parentage—both during and after the curse—and she’s grinding her teeth and forcing herself not to storm back over to the loft.  

Ruby’s in the middle of debating just going for a run, if only to burn off some excess energy, when she hears a key slot into her front door, and before it’s even open she’s leapt up from the couch to stand behind it. Regina hesitates when she pushes the door open—Ruby can hear her heart pounding away beneath her rib cage—and when she does, any and all thoughts of Snow White and her righteous family fade into the background.

“I shouldn’t have come here,” Regina greets her, but she closes the door anyway, shifts on her heeled feet and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

Something in Ruby settles at the sight of her, her animalistic side calming so that she’s no longer concentrating on keeping herself restrained, and she can breathe a little easier in her presence.

“I’m glad that you did,” Ruby says, deciding not to ask her why this is the first time that Regina has sought her out. Why she has come here, and why she used the key that Ruby was pressing into her hands—hoping, but not convinced that Regina would ever use it—at the start of the week.

“I don’t…” Regina sighs and trails off, crosses her arms around her waist (Ruby has since realised it’s Regina’s way of keeping herself together, of feeling safe) and glares at the floor for a moment. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here, but I… I didn’t want to go home.”

“Okay,” Ruby says. Biting at her lip she chances a step forward before continuing, “I gave you that key so you could come here any time. Even if I’m not here, I want you to be able to come here.”

Regina’s hand is clenched so tight around the key—Ruby’s heart can’t help but skip when she sees her brass key attached to a keychain that holds two others—that her knuckles are white from the strain. “Why?” she asks, like she’s never been offered a safe haven before, or had anyone reach out in friendship like that.

_That’s because she never has_

 

, Ruby realises. And she thinks that Regina’s been screaming out for someone to help her for so long that the second anyone tries to she doesn’t know how to recognise the offer and take it, and instead lashes out until they leave again. Her heart aches just thinking about how a lot of things might have been prevented had someone just refused to be pushed away.

“You deserve somewhere that’s neutral. Somewhere your mother isn’t around every corner, or where the town won’t glare at you.”

“My mother can still find me, she can find me anywhere,” Regina murmurs.

“I don’t doubt that she could,” Ruby agrees. “But will she really come marching in _here_ if you leave for a few hours?” Honestly Ruby has no idea whether or not Cora will eventually show up here, but even knowing that she has no way of stopping the witch from getting into her home, she still spent two hours locating that spare-key.

Regina frowns as she looks down to the side, her arms tightening around her waist. “I doubt the town will be happy with you if they see me coming and going,” she says instead as Ruby slowly walks closer. “Your grandmother alone may just try her hand at killing me with her crossbow—”

“Regina,” Ruby cuts her off, draws her attention to where she stands only a few feet in front of her now. Her heart isn’t thudding away from nerves like it was when she was behind the door, but she’s not calm either, and there’s a part of Ruby that thinks she’s trying to stop her eyes from growing damp. “Regina, what happened?”

“Henry,” she mutters, so quiet that were Ruby human she very much doubts she would have heard that clearly. “He… I saw Emma and Henry getting into Gold’s…” Regina trails off, one hand moving to shove its way through her hair as the other stays firm around her stomach and her jaw clenches.

Ruby’s eyes sink closed, because there had been a very tiny part of her brain that thought maybe, just maybe, something she’d said to Emma and Mary Margaret would have gotten through to them. But she’s not really surprised; she’s upset that Regina found out this way.

“She really fucking took him,” Ruby mumbles, anger simmering under her skin again but when Regina’s breath hitches it evaporates just as quickly. She can get angry again later. “I’m sorry, I… I should’ve…” she trails off, gesturing uselessly because she should have gone and told Regina herself. She should have stayed at the loft longer and kept her temper in check while trying to get Emma, at least, to understand that she wasn’t being better than anyone.

“They took him without…” Regina whispers to herself before she’s gripping her hair at the roots and taking a deep, but shaky breath, letting it out in a short, sharp laugh that sounds more like a sob. “I’m nothing to them, to _him,_ ” she says.

 _Screw it,_ Ruby thinks before she’s moving forwards and pulling Regina into her arms. She’s been very careful since that first morning with how often she touches Regina, how quickly she moves around her, because she knows what abuse looks like, and she’s not blind to the way Regina jumps at the slightest noise—always has, even during the cursed years—and since Cora sailed into town it’s only got worse, and she’s starting to piece together why. But she cannot do nothing, and even if she _could_ think of what to say she’s pretty sure it would sound empty.

Regina goes rigid when Ruby’s arms settle around her shoulders, but after a few moments, when Ruby doesn’t let go, but tugs her in closer, she all but melts into the hug. Her own arms slide around Ruby’s waist, hands gripping at the back of her top and her forehead drops to rest at Ruby’s collarbone.

“You are not nothing,” she whispers it as Regina shudders against her, not crying—not in front of her—but Ruby can feel her breath ripping through her, as she clings to an enemy (former enemy?) like a lifeline. “Not to him,” she says as she hugs Regina tighter. _Not to me._

Ruby has no idea how long they stand there for, but eventually Regina’s breathing eases, though her hands stay tangled in the back of Ruby’s tshirt, and her head drops down to rest against her collarbone. “You’re the only one that thinks that.”

“No, I’m not.” But if Regina hears her whisper she doesn’t show it, just lets her hands loosen a little from their grip on Ruby’s top, though she stays encircled in her arms. And Ruby cannot think of a single damn reason not to let her.

* * *

 

“A giant?” Ruby asks when she gets to their bench. “Really?”

Regina grins, a half-hearted, sardonic thing, as she glances at Ruby before turning back to the red stained sky. “I was bored.”

Ruby snorts and drops down onto the damp bench beside her, pulls a face at the rain water she can feel seeping into her jeans and narrows her eyes at Regina. “You let a fully grown _giant_ loose on the town… because you were bored?”

“Yes,” Regina says. She’s not smiling anymore (she rarely ever does, but the few times Ruby is lucky enough to witness it, her stomach flips) but there’s amusement in her voice.

“How about next time you get bored you lean towards something that has less chance of causing thousands of dollars worth of property damage?” The words are scolding but Ruby can’t wipe the smile off her own face, nor hide the amusement, to save her life. And when Regina bites her lip to try—and fail—to hide her own smile, and says _I’ll consider it,_ Ruby thinks she would probably be quite happy to pay for the damages if it kept Regina smiling like that.

* * *

 

“You’re not usually here first,” Regina greets Ruby as she folds herself down next to where she sits with her legs hanging over the edge of the docks.

“You’re not usually one to sit on the floor, but here we are.”

“Fair,” Regina says as she turns to look out at the misty horizon. “Well, I know why I’m here—what about you?”

Ruby shrugs, chews at her lip and stares down at where her hands are folded together in her lap. “I’m just being stupid.”

“I highly doubt that,” Regina says. She’s not looking at her but Ruby can feel her hesitate, hears her heart pick up for a couple of beats before Regina is reaching across and slipping her hand between Ruby’s. So far it’s been Ruby making a lot of the first moves when it comes to their friendship. And in theory this shouldn’t be such a huge gesture, but Ruby feels like the Earth just stopped turning for a moment.

Squeezing her hand Ruby sighs, “It’s silly.” When Regina stays silent, giving her hand a squeeze back she shrugs. “I don’t even know… I just—” she lets out a groan, half frustration over not knowing how to put it into words and half because it’s bothering her to begin with. “Do you ever feel like… like everyone around is moving in a completely different direction to yourself? And that you’re not even sure that you want to _try_ to follow them?” She has no idea if that even makes sense to her, let alone another person.

Regina snorts. “You do remember who you are currently talking too, right?”  

“I guess,” she half laughs.

“You’re still upset about what happened with Mary Margaret,” Regina says, and Ruby feels her turn slightly to look at her, but she keeps her eyes on the sea.

“Aren’t you?” She does turn to look back at her then, because _God, why is no one else pissed the fuck off with Snow fucking White and her stupid, righteous family?_

At that Regina smirks. But it’s half-hearted at best and self-deprecating at worst. “I am _always_ upset with that woman.”

Despite herself Ruby smiles, lets a tiny breath of a laugh slip out and nods before she goes back to frowning. “Yeah, I suppose you are.” She doesn’t say what she is thinking, because she gets the feeling that Regina knows already.

_It’s not okay._

* * *

 

Ruby is in the middle of clearing tables at Granny’s when the oxygen freezes in her lungs and the tray crashes to the floor, china plates cracking and scattering over the tiles as Ruby’s hands shake, one rising to cover her mouth and smother the scream she suddenly wants to release. Her heart feels like it’s in a vice, and for a moment all she wants to do is curl up into a ball and sob.

 _Regina,_ she realises it’s not _her_ feeling like this—not really—almost as soon as it crashes over her. There’s not a moment of doubt. She knows it the same way she knew she could trust who her mother said she was without question. The same way she knows Granny would turn on the people they hold dear if it meant protecting Ruby.

_Pack. My pack is in trouble._

It takes all of thirty seconds before she’s bolting out the door, leaving her jacket, bag, and Granny yelling “The hell do you think you’re going, girl!” in her wake.

_Regina needs me, my pack needs me._

She thinks of little else until she’s crashing through the door to Gold’s shop a handful of minutes later and skids to a stop. Regina is on the floor, curled over a limp body that she can only assume is Cora Mills based on the sobs coming from her, and the look of guilt on Mary Margaret’s face as David holds her to his chest. Emma looks to be in shock, as does the stranger just behind her. Gold’s face is completely blank, but his eyes remain locked on the women at his feet. And none of them even glance over at the racket the door makes as it slams shut behind her. They don’t move to do anything to help either.

“Get out,” Ruby growls, eyes no doubt bright yellow as her hackles rise. When Mary Margaret and David turn to see her standing there, the guilt growing more and more visible as time goes on, Ruby has to force herself not to lunge at them. She has no idea what’s happened, but from the agony she can feel ripping through Regina, and the way Mary Margaret keeps looking at the body on the floor, yet never at the woman holding it, Ruby knows that this was their doing.

“Get. The fuck. _Out_.” When no one leaves Ruby swallows back the urge to shift, to let the anger vibrating through her skeleton show through more than just her burning eyes as she shoulders her way past them and drops down beside Regina.

“No!” Regina jerks away, whimpering, when Ruby reaches out to place a hand on her arm. “Don’t touch her!”

“It’s me, Regina,” Ruby soothes, deliberately moving until she’s got a hand on Regina’s shoulder and upon Cora’s stomach. “I’m not going to hurt her,” she whispers as she inches closer and closer until she’s curled around them, protecting her pack member the only way she knows how to. Shielding her from as many of the looks as she can.

“Ruby…” Emma starts.

Without taking her eyes from Regina, now rocking back and forth in tiny, fractured movements as she continues to sob and beg her mother not to leave her, Ruby spits over her shoulder, “You really need to be gone by the time I get her off of the fucking floor, Swan.” When no one appears to move Ruby lets the growl that’s been building in her chest loose, a ferocious thing that promises more violence than any words can.

“Regina… come on,” she urges. “You don’t want to stay here.”

“I can’t… I can’t leave her.” Regina is still crying, her murmured words hitching with each one, but Ruby thinks she would hear her no matter how quietly she spoke, or how laboured her breathing was.

“We won’t,” Ruby assures her. She glares up at Gold, hating that she’s turning to the Dark One for aid, but Regina is in no fit state to use magic right now, and she figures that the Imp owes her. “Preserve her body.”

For once he doesn’t ask what’s in it for him, just waves his hand out towards Cora’s still form, the light and air shifting around her slightly before it settles and he nods, turning away and limping towards the back room. She’d ask him to send her to Regina’s vault, but she honestly doesn’t think Regina would survive letting Cora out of her sight, let alone trust Rumplestiltskin to transport one of the most important people in her life anywhere.

“Regina.” Ruby shifts until she has one arm wrapped around her back, and her other hand cupping under her jaw, thumb rubbing at the constant tears as she eases her to look up and into her no longer yellow eyes. “Hey, let’s get her home.”

“I…”

“I know.” Ruby wipes away another flood of tears before she moves to slip her arms under Cora. “I’m not taking her from you, I promise, I just want to take you somewhere safer, okay? Will you let me?” When Regina manages a half nod Ruby hooks her arms under Cora, lifting her easily if not awkwardly as she keeps one hand looped around Regina’s back and on her elbow, urging her to stand too.

The stranger who’d remained out of her way from the moment she barged through the door steps forward, hands raising when Ruby snaps her teeth at him. “I just wanna help.”

“You’ve done enough,” Ruby hisses.

“I didn’t know this would happen,” he insists, hands still up at his shoulders but his eyes look honest and his heart is steady, even as he holds her eye contact.

She wants to tell him where he can shove his offer, she really does, but Regina looks ready to collapse in on herself, and Emma and the rest of her fucking family are still standing there, though Emma looks like she’s desperate to be anywhere else.

“Fine,” she grunts, passing Cora’s form over to him. “Take Cora. And if you even think about doing anything? I’ll tear you apart before you can scream.” She turns back to Regina before she can see how that comment sits with him, but she means every word and she’s fairly certain he knows that. Regina just looks shell-shocked. Her hands are shaking and though she’s now quiet, tears are still streaming down her face and Ruby’s heart just _breaks._

Mary Margaret, David and Emma are all still between them and the main door, so Ruby puts herself between them and Regina and starts to guide her out of the side door and into the alley. She doesn’t see Regina’s car, curses herself for not grabbing her own damn keys and driving here—but running was quicker and she hadn’t been thinking of anything past _getting_ to Regina—before she’s hugging Regina tighter to her side and asking, “Did you drive here?”

There’s a tiny movement that might be a nod, but she doesn’t try to speak, and Ruby doubts she’d be able to even if she tried. Fishing the keys for the Mercedes out of Regina’s coat pocket, Ruby glances around once more to try and spot the car before she catches a trace of Regina’s scent coming from a few feet away. Throwing a look over her shoulder to make sure the man carrying Cora follows, Ruby tracks the scent down the alley and away from Main Street—thankfully, she had no desire to drag Regina through town in her current state.

The car is parked two streets over, in an empty loading bay for an abandoned storefront. She moves to open the driver's side, flipping the seat forward to get to the tiny space in the back, before stepping back and nodding for the man to fumble his way through getting Cora’s body into the seat. When he steps back he looks like he might say something, before changing his mind, flipping the front seat back into place and offering Ruby a nod.

“Thank you,” she calls out as he turns to leave. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, I did.” He’s looks over to Regina—still silent and tucked into Ruby’s side—before he’s stepping back the way they came and saying to Ruby, “Tell her I’m sorry, when she can handle it. Tell her that I’m sorry for her loss.” And then he turns and jogs back towards the pawn shop.

She very much doubts she’ll do anything of the sort. Even when Regina snaps out of whatever trance she’s gone into—though Ruby can still feel the hurricane of emotions inside her—Ruby is pretty damn sure that the words will feel just as hollow to her then as they will now. Especially from someone, whom as far as Ruby can tell, had a hand in her mother’s death.

By the time they reach the cemetery on the other side of town, Regina is curled into the passenger seat, and Ruby feels her anger cooling. She has no idea what happened, and doesn’t see anyone telling her anytime soon, but it’s starting to matter less and less _what_ happened, only that it did and that it’s cut Regina’s legs out from underneath her. And not a single part of Ruby can stomach the notion of hurting her anymore.

Putting the car in park once she’s as close to the vault as she can get it, Ruby turns to where Regina is staring at the dashboard, no longer crying, but she can’t help but think the crying was better than this… this _nothing_ that has taken over. Ruby frowns at Regina, heart aching a little more, sighs, and gets out of the car to move around to the passenger side to open the door and drop into a crouch.

“Regina?” Ruby prompts, cupping one hand under her chin and urging her to look her way—though she’s not convinced that Regina is actually seeing her. “Hey, we’ll put Cora… we’ll make sure she’s comfortable. Come on,” she adds when Regina just continues to stare at her. Taking her hand Ruby gently pulls her from the car so that she can maneuver Cora’s form from the back seat.

Once she has a decent enough hold on Cora’s body, Ruby coaxes Regina towards the mausoleum. She’s not convinced that Regina is anything more than half aware—if that—of where they are, but she gets them inside the, and gets her father’s empty coffin pushed back (she has no clue how she manages it but she does) enough to lead them down into the crypt.

She could hear the thudding of hearts before she even opened the mausoleum door, a dull rumble that built the closer she moved to them—like war drums sending an army into battle. It sets her teeth on edge. And for a moment the _thump-thump-thump_ of the hearts is all that fills her mind, but then Regina sniffs and Ruby is pulled back to herself—pulled away from the vague notion that those hearts have owners out there somewhere—and the fact that she is cradling the dead body of her friend’s mother.

“Where do you want me to put her?” Ruby asks. “Hey, it’s okay, we’re just gonna make sure she's comfortable, that's all,” she promises when Regina looks torn. She can work on getting her out of the vault and back home once they've seen to Cora.

It takes some coaxing but Regina eventually leads the way to a small antichamber like room—the sheer amount of doorways and corridors once they move away from the main room makes Ruby's head spin a little—where a long marble plinth-like bench sits in the middle, an empty coffin on top.

 _This is where she kept Daniel._ It hits her like a punch to the gut as she's placing Cora down into the coffin. It's probably the only place Regina can think of right now to put her mother, but if the idea of leaving the body of his murderer in the spot where Daniel used to rest is making Ruby's skin crawl, then she has no doubt that it's tearing Regina apart. _I need to get her away from this._

“Thank you.” Ruby is so busy trying to work out just _how_ she is going to convince Regina to leave that she almost misses it when she speaks.

“For what?” She asks as she turns to face her. Regina is no longer crying—the tear tracks and mascara smudges smearing her cheeks—but she looks closer to broken than Ruby has ever seen.

Regina shrugs. “This. Her,” she jerks her chin towards the body. “I don't know how to—”

“Don't,” Ruby cuts her off, already moving forward to take her hands as she shakes her head. “Don't thank me for doing the decent thing.”

“You hated my mother,” Regina says. “Why are you helping her?”

Ruby swears she can feel her heart crack a little at that. “I'm not helping her. I'm helping you.” _Because I care about you, because you're important to me._ They both lapse into silence, Regina unable to tear her bloodshot eyes away from Cora, and Ruby unable to look away from her. “What do you want to do?” She asks when Regina’s eyes slip closed and she inhales, shaking still and seemingly needing to steady herself.

“I want to go home,” she whispers.

**Author's Note:**

> to be continued.


End file.
